I adapted this recipe from one for carrot cake, because I grow more cooking apples than carrots. I daresay it could also be made with eating apples, although you would probably need to reduce the amount of sugar. It’s a delicious cake, rich without being heavy. It’s also very easy to make, especially if someone will help you grate the apples.
Apple cake
For the cake
8 oz (approx 250 g) wholemeal flour
6 oz (approx 150 g) dark brown soft sugar
1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) baking powder
0.5 teaspoon (0.5 x 5 ml spoon) ground cinnamon
2 eggs
5 fl. oz. (approx 140 ml) cooking oil
Approx 1 lb (approx 450 g) cooking apples, after peeling and coring
For the cream cheese icing
1.5 oz (approx 40 g) butter
3 oz (approx 80 g) icing sugar
1.5 oz (approx 40 g) cream cheese
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Make a well in the centre, pour in the beaten eggs and the oil. Mix well.
Peel and core the apples. Grate the apples using a coarse grater. Add to the cake mixture and mix well. It should be the consistency of thick batter.
Grease and line a 6 inch (approx 15 cm) deep cake tin, or a loaf tin about 6 inches x 4 inches x 3 inches (approx 15 cm x 11 cm x 7 cm). Pour in the cake batter and level the top.
Bake in a moderately hot oven, approx 170 C, for about 1.25 – 1.5 hours until the cake is risen, set and golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.
To make the icing:
Sieve the icing sugar. (It is quicker to sieve the icing sugar first, rather than try to beat out the lumps later. Trust me on this).
Beat the butter into the sieved icing sugar until smooth.
Beat in the cream cheese.
Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally, and sandwich the two halves back together with the cream cheese icing. If you prefer, you can spread the icing on the top of the cake instead and decorate with walnut halves.
Serve cut in slices.
I expect to get 12-14 slices out of this (but that will depend how big a slice you like). It keeps for about a week in an airtight tin. The cake can be frozen without the icing.
As usual I will merely note how good this looks/sounds.
ReplyDeleteThough I didn't know there were cooking apples different from eating apples.
That one's very different from German Apfelkuchen (which keeps the slices of apple intact) but I wonder if it would equally well go with vanilla ice cream. :)
ReplyDeleteRick - cooking apples are sour, eating apples are sweet enough to eat raw. A few varieties start out as cooking apples and turn into eating apples during storage.
ReplyDeleteGabriele - Yes, it's a completely different style of cake than Apfelkuchen. I've never tried it with vanilla ice cream. You could always try it and see; though cream cheese icing as well would probably be overkill!
This looks just right for me. I love apples. :) Sans icing, though. Not a big icing fan.
ReplyDeleteMaybe. Plus, it's more fun if the Apfelkuchen is warm. Serve with vanilla or walnut ice cream and a dab of whipped cream. Yummmm. :)
ReplyDeleteConstance - just miss the icing out, if you don't like it.
ReplyDeleteGabriele - yes, ice-cream is often nice with warm cake or pudding. Walnut ice-cream sounds good :-)